"The Obstacles to a US-China Trade Deal"

First aired on June 10, 2019.

In this episode of "Dollar and Sense," David Dollar discusses the obstacles the US and China face in coming to a trade agreement with the former US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky.

Barshefsky brings an informed and expert perspective on China, arguing that the change in China's interactions with the US and the rest of the world can really be traced back to the global financial crisis in 2008. The US, she says, was seen by China as being incapable of keeping its own financial house, as well as the global financial house, in order. This opened up the possibility that perhaps the United States wasn't invincible and the "model for everything," after all.

The "wake-up" calls to mind how the chaos of World War II changed how many African leaders viewed Britain and France. Fighting alongside European troops during the war shattered the illusion of British and French invincibility for many Africans, a first step in fighting for independence.

Makes one wonder how the destruction of the illusion of American invincibility will affect how China flexes its geopolitical and financial muscles in the decades to come.